style="font-size:15px;"> “I’m not sure that’s a good enough excuse.”
He wanted to believe her. He hadn’t expected that, but then he hadn’t expected a lot of things.
“I’m not trying to jump to conclusions here,” she said, “but you do realize that despite all this, we can’t get involved.”
Couldn’t they? “Why not?”
“Because of my crazy grandmother and your crazy aunt.”
“We’re not related.”
“It’s the money. If we got involved, everyone would think it was because of the tantalizing offer of a million dollars. You would think that. I don’t get it. You are not the kind of man who needs anyone’s help to get a woman. So why would she do that?”
“Ruth has some particular ideas about life and her place in everyone else’s.” She always had. Maybe she genuinely thought one of her granddaughters would be able to trap Todd. Ryan was more willing to bet on his cousin. Todd wasn’t interested in anything serious and no one was going to change his mind.
“Like I said. Crazy.” Julie shrugged. “But now we have a problem.”
Everything about her screamed that she was telling the truth. She met his gaze easily, she wasn’t nervous. She’d been funny and charming and blunt ever since she’d walked up to his table in the restaurant and had compared him to Mr. Howell.
“You’re saying things would be better if I was an impoverished shoe salesman?” he asked.
“In a way. Although it sounds a little nineteenth century. Couldn’t you just be a high-school math teacher or an entry-level computer programmer?”
“I could be, but I’m not.”
“So now what?” She reached for her robe and pulled it on, then sat up and smiled at him. “I’m presuming you want to see me again, mostly because I’ve given you many opportunities to bolt for freedom and you haven’t taken any of them.”
“Do you wish I would have?”
“No.” She shrugged again. “I kind of like having you around.” She laughed. “This time yesterday I was dreading meeting you. I wished that either of my sisters could have been paid to take my place. But now …” She touched his hand. “Sometimes losing is a good thing.”
His chest tightened as the truth slammed into him. Whatever he and Todd had thought about Julie Nelson, they’d been wrong. She wasn’t in this for the money. She wasn’t in it for any reason other than she’d wanted to make her grandmother happy and she’d lost a stupid game.
The realization of what he’d done—how he’d blown it—made him sick. He’d thought she’d be a bitch—instead she was the most amazing woman he’d ever met, and he’d screwed this up. Totally.
“Todd?” she asked. “What’s wrong? You have the strangest look on your face.”
“I …” He swore silently. How to explain? How to … “I’m not Todd Aston.”
Four
Julie knew she was supposed to say something, but she couldn’t seem to get her brain to work. Too little sleep and too much shock made thinking impossible.
“You’re not Todd?” she asked, more to herself than him.
“Julie, look,” he began, but she raised her hand to cut him off.
“You’re not Todd,” she repeated as she stared at the naked man in her bed. The man she’d made love with several times. The man she’d laughed with and joked with and had taken her clothes off for and trusted?
“You’re not Todd?”
This time the words came out in a yell that gave voice to the fury and horror building inside of her. She scrambled off the bed and tightened the belt of her robe.
“What the hell do you mean, you’re not Todd?”
“I’m his cousin, Ryan Bennett. Todd and I knew about what Ruth had done, and we figured anyone who agreed to her terms was only in it for the money. I went on this date thinking I was here to teach you a lesson. You know, pretend to be Todd and then cut out.”
“His cousin? This was just a game to you? Is this your idea of a good time?” She glared at him and wished she worked out so she could punch him and have it hurt.
Todd or Ryan or whatever his name was climbed out of bed and stood in front of her. Naked. Gorgeous. But that shouldn’t be a surprise. Why wouldn’t evil, lying, snake bastards be good-looking, too?
“Julie, wait. It’s not what you think.”
“Don’t even try,” she told him, feeling light-headed from the rage coursing through her. “Don’t think you can smooth talk your way out of this one.”
“I don’t want to talk myself out of anything—I want to explain. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
This? As in the sex? The rage built and she was suddenly terrified she was going to cry. Oh, God, not that. She refused to break down in front of this weasel.
“What part didn’t you mean?” she asked, her voice thick with loathing. “The part where we agreed to meet for dinner? Or was it just a slip of the tongue when you introduced yourself as Todd? Oops, silly me. I forgot my name?”
He’d been charming, she thought, just as enraged at herself as she was at him. Of course—if she’d fallen for him, there had to be something wrong with him. It wasn’t as if she ever found someone decent. He’d been funny and smart and she’d been so attracted to him. Hadn’t that been enough of a warning in her brain? But no. She had to go and think he was what he seemed. She had to go and bring him home and have sex with him.
For someone who was supposed to be so damn bright, why did she have to act so stupid?
“We thought …” he began.
“You thought what? This would be good sport? No, wait. What was it you said? You were going to teach me a lesson?” She glanced at her lamp and thought about flinging it at his head. “Who the hell are you to be judge and jury? What did I ever do to you?”
“You didn’t do anything,” he told her earnestly. “Nothing at all. You’re the innocent party in this. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it.”
“I know. When Aunt Ruth told Todd what she’d done, what she’d promised you and your sisters, he was furious. He always has money-hungry women chasing after him and he didn’t need three more trying to marry him for his wealth.”
“Todd needs to get over himself,” she said bitterly. “It wasn’t about the money. You know that, damn you. It was about finding out we had a grandmother and keeping things good between us. No one thought her offer was real. What’s wrong with you people?”
“You
